The indirect pursuit of happiness

By Michael Bond

THE message in John Kay’s book is simple&colon; you are more likely to achieve happiness, wealth and other goals by pursuing them indirectly. In other words, it is better to focus on the steps along the way than on what you hope to gain at the end.

Unfortunately this is not the “brilliant new idea” his publishers would have us believe, but rather an overstated attempt to rally well-tried notions of behaviour behind a fresh theme. It is also often misplaced. For example, in declaring that there can never be a science of decision-making because the world is too complex, he appears to brush aside one of the hottest research areas in psychology. Complexity is not immune to analysis.

Kay writes engagingly and covers much ground, including the fallacy behind Le Corbusier’s modernist urban planning and the flaws in financial risk models. But the more relentlessly he attempts to tie it all to a grand new theory, the more improbable it feels.

Obliquity

John Kay

Profile Books

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